Clinical Scores in Veterinary Medicine: What Are the Pitfalls of Score Construction, Reliability, and Validation? A General Methodological Approach Applied in Cattle
Clinical scores are commonly used for cattle. They generally contain a mix of categorical and numerical variables that need to be assessed by scorers, such as farmers, animal caretakers, scientists, and veterinarians. This article examines the key concepts that need to be accounted for when developi...
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2021
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oai:doaj.org-article:2c3c146c81174d6da6ade492e9dd6b962021-11-25T16:19:47ZClinical Scores in Veterinary Medicine: What Are the Pitfalls of Score Construction, Reliability, and Validation? A General Methodological Approach Applied in Cattle10.3390/ani111132442076-2615https://doaj.org/article/2c3c146c81174d6da6ade492e9dd6b962021-11-01T00:00:00Zhttps://www.mdpi.com/2076-2615/11/11/3244https://doaj.org/toc/2076-2615Clinical scores are commonly used for cattle. They generally contain a mix of categorical and numerical variables that need to be assessed by scorers, such as farmers, animal caretakers, scientists, and veterinarians. This article examines the key concepts that need to be accounted for when developing the test for optimal outcomes. First, the target condition or construct that the scale is supposed to measure should be defined, and if possible, an adequate proxy used for classification should be determined. Then, items (e.g., clinical signs) of interest that are either caused by the target condition (reflective items) or that caused the target condition (formative items) are listed, and reliable items (inter and intra-rater reliability) are kept for the next step. A model is then developed to determine the relative weight of the items associated with the target condition. A scale is then built after validating the model and determining the optimal threshold in terms of sensitivity (ability to detect the target condition) and specificity (ability to detect the absence of the target condition). Its robustness to various scenarios of the target condition prevalence and the impact of the relative cost of false negatives to false positives can also be assessed to tailor the scale used based on specific application conditions.Sébastien BuczinskiAntonio BoccardoDavide PravettoniMDPI AGarticlecattleclinical scoresmethodological approachVeterinary medicineSF600-1100ZoologyQL1-991ENAnimals, Vol 11, Iss 3244, p 3244 (2021) |
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cattle clinical scores methodological approach Veterinary medicine SF600-1100 Zoology QL1-991 |
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cattle clinical scores methodological approach Veterinary medicine SF600-1100 Zoology QL1-991 Sébastien Buczinski Antonio Boccardo Davide Pravettoni Clinical Scores in Veterinary Medicine: What Are the Pitfalls of Score Construction, Reliability, and Validation? A General Methodological Approach Applied in Cattle |
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Clinical scores are commonly used for cattle. They generally contain a mix of categorical and numerical variables that need to be assessed by scorers, such as farmers, animal caretakers, scientists, and veterinarians. This article examines the key concepts that need to be accounted for when developing the test for optimal outcomes. First, the target condition or construct that the scale is supposed to measure should be defined, and if possible, an adequate proxy used for classification should be determined. Then, items (e.g., clinical signs) of interest that are either caused by the target condition (reflective items) or that caused the target condition (formative items) are listed, and reliable items (inter and intra-rater reliability) are kept for the next step. A model is then developed to determine the relative weight of the items associated with the target condition. A scale is then built after validating the model and determining the optimal threshold in terms of sensitivity (ability to detect the target condition) and specificity (ability to detect the absence of the target condition). Its robustness to various scenarios of the target condition prevalence and the impact of the relative cost of false negatives to false positives can also be assessed to tailor the scale used based on specific application conditions. |
format |
article |
author |
Sébastien Buczinski Antonio Boccardo Davide Pravettoni |
author_facet |
Sébastien Buczinski Antonio Boccardo Davide Pravettoni |
author_sort |
Sébastien Buczinski |
title |
Clinical Scores in Veterinary Medicine: What Are the Pitfalls of Score Construction, Reliability, and Validation? A General Methodological Approach Applied in Cattle |
title_short |
Clinical Scores in Veterinary Medicine: What Are the Pitfalls of Score Construction, Reliability, and Validation? A General Methodological Approach Applied in Cattle |
title_full |
Clinical Scores in Veterinary Medicine: What Are the Pitfalls of Score Construction, Reliability, and Validation? A General Methodological Approach Applied in Cattle |
title_fullStr |
Clinical Scores in Veterinary Medicine: What Are the Pitfalls of Score Construction, Reliability, and Validation? A General Methodological Approach Applied in Cattle |
title_full_unstemmed |
Clinical Scores in Veterinary Medicine: What Are the Pitfalls of Score Construction, Reliability, and Validation? A General Methodological Approach Applied in Cattle |
title_sort |
clinical scores in veterinary medicine: what are the pitfalls of score construction, reliability, and validation? a general methodological approach applied in cattle |
publisher |
MDPI AG |
publishDate |
2021 |
url |
https://doaj.org/article/2c3c146c81174d6da6ade492e9dd6b96 |
work_keys_str_mv |
AT sebastienbuczinski clinicalscoresinveterinarymedicinewhatarethepitfallsofscoreconstructionreliabilityandvalidationageneralmethodologicalapproachappliedincattle AT antonioboccardo clinicalscoresinveterinarymedicinewhatarethepitfallsofscoreconstructionreliabilityandvalidationageneralmethodologicalapproachappliedincattle AT davidepravettoni clinicalscoresinveterinarymedicinewhatarethepitfallsofscoreconstructionreliabilityandvalidationageneralmethodologicalapproachappliedincattle |
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